


the ribbon

by sunnysidedownn



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24131302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnysidedownn/pseuds/sunnysidedownn
Summary: Ladybug's on patrol and loses her ribbon. That's it.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Kudos: 62





	the ribbon

Thursday, 8:30 PM. Patrol duty, again.

Marinette sighed as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Nothing actually happened on the patrols, it was just usually a way to give the citizens of Paris the feeling that they were safe. It was great publicity for the heroes though and gave Marinette some exercise. She couldn’t help but laugh as the wind whisked past her hair, her ribbons dancing behind her. It was a feeling of freedom that she had missed the whole day, having been cooped up in school.

The wind was a little too strong. Or she was a little too fast.

Either way, one of her ribbons came undone and flew backwards, floating in the air a couple of buildings behind.

“I thought these ribbons were magic,” Marinette grumbled. After years of battling akumas in high-intensity situations, it was jumping around that made it fall apart? Pathetic.

Marinette quickly scurried back, but the ribbon twirled around her, just out of her reach. She’d fought akumas that were easier to catch than this goddamned ribbon. Her fingers always seemed to just barely grasp the ribbon before it flew out of reach. It slowly fluttered down between the buildings, into a shadowed alley filled with garbage bags.

Marinette groaned in frustration. She had washed her hair just yesterday, and now she was going to smell like literal trash. Was there even time after the patrol to get her homework done and wash her hair? She had been putting off that essay about theology for too long, and the deadline was approaching – tomorrow, to be exact.

Marinette looped her yoyo around a fencepost on the roof and slowly lowered herself down into the alley. She wasn’t going to go deeper in the trash than she needed to. Unfortunately, the ribbon was nowhere to be seen.

Fortunately, a cat with much better night vision turned up.

“Now, if you don’t mind, could I ask what you were doing in the trash?” a familiar voice asked.

Marinette let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness you’re here, Chat. I don’t know if you could tell, but something of mine is missing.” Marinette gestured at her half-up half-down hairstyle. “It fell somewhere in here, I just can’t see it.”

“Well, you’re lucky I’m here,” Chat grinned. Careful to not rip the trash bags open, Chat rummaged around the garbage a bit. There it was, under a layer of bags, the red silk glistening.

“Thank you so much, Chat. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Marinette smiled. She outstretched a hand, waiting for the ribbon.

“Ladybug, you amuse me,” Chat scoffed. He clenched the ribbon in his hand. “You make me, your partner with a much better sense of smell, dig around in the trash and you expect me to just let you have it?”

Marinette shrugged. “Yeah, kind of,” she replied. “It’s my ribbon, after all.”

“And it’s my nose!” Chat cried. “My suit is going to smell like garbage for who knows how long! I don’t even know if it’s laundry safe. And my poor nose!” Chat feigned collapsing, his hand held over his forehead.

“Well, you didn’t have to come help me,” Marinette sighed.

“How could I not?”

“Just please, hand it over. I need to get home to do homework.”

Chat tutted his tongue. “After all of this work, I’d just hand it over? No way. You have to say that you love me.”

Marinette was getting frustrated. “Chat,” she groaned. “I don’t have time for this.”

“It’s just three words, my lady. All you have to do is say, ‘I love you.’ You don’t even have to mention my name. I just wanted some thanks.”

“Chat,” Marinette warned. “I’m just going to take it from you.” She slowly leaned forward, still holding onto her yoyo, swiping at his hand.

“If you wanted to hold my hand so badly, my lady, you could’ve just asked!” Chat grinned. “But that’s not happening until you say that you love me.”

In the blink of an eye, Chat was gone. He had boosted up to the rooftop using his baton, waving the ribbon at Ladybug below.

“Just say ‘I love you’ and this will all be over!”

Marinette sighed. She didn’t sign up for this. Begrudgingly, she withdrew her yoyo, joining Chat on the roof.

“Alright Chat, I-“

Marinette lunged for the ribbon. She barely touched it before Chat snapped his hand back.

“That’s not fair. It’s a very simple request, honestly. Takes not even two seconds. You could be working right now, you know.”

Marinette continued her approaches, lunging forward and trying to grab the ribbon from his fist. Chat continued to switch the ribbon between his hands, backing up slowly until he reached the end of the building. His back hit the fence, and he was cornered.

“I’ve got you now!” Marinette smirked triumphantly.

“Unfortunately, you haven’t, my lady.” Chat signed off and extended his baton into the sky, tipping over onto the next rooftop. He smiled at Ladybug and shouted, “Just say three words and this will all be over!”

“And that’s not happening!” Marinette shouted back. She got a good running start and leapt over the fence and onto the other roof. Using her momentum, she knocked Chat over and onto his back. It was over.

Or it should have been. Chat wriggled his way out from under her and took off. Marinette groaned, and checked her watch. 8:41 PM, still a reasonable hour. She had some time to spare.

The two ran around Paris, laughing and shouting the whole time. Marinette was never able to catch up to Chat. Every time she thought she had him cornered, Chat would manage to pull a new stunt and escape. She tried everything she could, cutting him off in his predictable routes, lagging behind a lot to see if she could sneak up on him, and a couple of fake-out I love you’s. Still, Chat held onto the ribbon.

Finally, it seemed as if both of their stamina were wearing out.

“Face it, Ladybug, you’re not going to be able to swipe it from me. You’ve been on patrol for longer, and I’ve had the advantage of not having half of my hair down the whole time. It’s just three words, and I’ll return the ribbon, safe and sound.”

Marinette’s flushed face said it all. She was tired, and she couldn’t keep up with Chat anymore. She checked the time again, and to her surprise, it was already 9:50 PM. She only had a couple of hours left to write a whole paper, one where she didn’t even know the topic.

“Fine, Chat. You win.”

“Wait, really?”

“Sure. Chat Noir, I love you. Now give me my ribbon back.”

Chat seemed happier than Marinette had ever seen him. Practically glowing with excitedness, he returned the ribbon. “That wasn’t too hard, was it?” he smiled.

Marinette was about as red as the ribbon she had just received. She tied her hair back up and rolled her eyes. “Well, Chat, I’ve got to go. For the record, this isn’t happening again.” She took out her yoyo and swung off, not waiting for a reply.

The next day, as Marinette handed in a poorly written paper about some theological topic, she noticed a bad scent wafting from in front of her. It couldn’t have been coming from Adrien, could it? It smelled like garbage, and Adrien always smelled like heaven. She shrugged it off. Maybe the vents were broken.

**Author's Note:**

> first fic and probably last fic. hope you had fun


End file.
